Victoria's Liberal party has abandoned some inner-Melbourne supporters by refusing to contest the seat of Richmond, senior federal Labor MP Anthony Albanese says.
With just a little more than a week until Victorians go to the polls, the Sydney-based politician offered his opinion on the contest in a speech to party faithful.
"We have the extraordinary circumstance of the Liberal Party not nominating a candidate in the electorate of Richmond, abandoning their supporters in a strategic act of contempt," Mr Albanese told an audience in Melbourne on Thursday evening.
The state Liberal party will not contest Richmond in a move designed to starve Labor's incumbent MP Richard Wynne of the preferences he might need to hold the Greens at bay.
"This has exposed the informal alliance of the Liberals with the Greens political party that we saw demonstrated when after the 2014 election they combined to elect a Liberal to preside over the legislative council," Mr Albanese said.
Both Victorian opposition leader Matthew Guy and Premier Daniel Andrews have firmly ruled out joining forces with the Greens.
But the minor party has shown willingness to form government with Labor.
"Whereas the Liberals seek to use government to promote a reactionary agenda, the Greens party seek to wait for whoever is in government to make decisions and then determine whether to support or oppose them," Mr Albanese lamented.
Hard-right elements in the Liberal Party are growing with thousands of members recruited modelled on US President Donald Trump's take on mainstream views on conservative politics, he added.
Australian Associated Press
